A variety of medical fluids are commonly administered intravascularly to a patient in the course of medical treatment. Such medical liquids can include for example, saline or a dextrose solution or other fluids for correcting body chemistry and balances or medical solutions prescribed for the treatment of disease, or anesthetic drugs used in preparing a patient for surgery and during surgery. These medical liquids are normally available commercially in aseptic containers having self-sealing caps of a resilient material adapted to be punctured by an appropriate instrument, such as a hypodermic needle for removing fluid contents for supply to the patient.
Infusion of medical liquids is normally carried out by use of a so called intravenous administration set, sometimes referred to as an I.V. set, which includes means for puncturing the self-sealing cap of the fluid container and means for guiding the fluid in a continuous regulated flow to a catheter inserted, for example, into the vein of the patient. Other known systems, for example, interpose a fluid delivery pumping cassette in the fluid line between the fluid vial and the patient. The fluid vial may contain typical intravenous solutions, such as saline or dextrose, or selected drugs in liquid form, for use in patient infusion; hence, the term "fluid vial" is used to describe the generic container of the present invention.
Integral to such system is the connection between the fluid vial or fluid container and the catheter, whether or not the intermediate device such as the fluid delivery cassette is incorporated into the system. Typically, the connection between the vial and the catheter is a spiked conduit insert having a spiked end inserted into the resilient cap of the fluid vial with an opposite end connected to fluid delivery means for delivering fluid through the catheter to the patient. A typical I.V. spike is shown in U.S. Pat. No. D. 268,698 or U.S. Pat. No. D. 297,262. The devices depicted in the above noted patents are relatively simple having a spike on one end, a conduit therethrough and an opening connectable to a catheter or associated fluid delivery device at the other. Such devices do not include means for latching the piercing pin to an associated fluid vial or typically if there is any positive connecting apparatus associated with such piercing pin, it is usually associated with the end opposite the piercing element, in the connection to the fluid line.
The fluid infusion system of U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,014 actually incorporates two piercing pins therein, but displays no real locking connection between the pin and the associated fluid vial into which the pin may be inserted.